Mayor Bloomberg’s Appointee Criticizes Her Boss on Homeless Policy

Lilliam Barrios-Paoli at a news conference Thursday with Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio.

A top member of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, upon accepting an appointment to work for New York City’s incoming mayor, delivered Thursday a sharp critique of her current boss’ approach to homelessness — a rare public rebuke of a sitting mayor from a subordinate.

At a news conference, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio named Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, Mr. Bloomberg’s commissioner of the city’s Department for the Aging since 2009, as his new deputy mayor for health and human services. Ms. Barrios-Paoli is to replace her boss, Linda Gibbs, who has held the deputy mayor post since January 2006.

Ms. Barrios-Paoli strongly criticized the Bloomberg administration’s policies on homelessness, denouncing a decision to cancel a rent subsidy program in 2011 that contributed to a dramatic increase in the city’s shelter population. There are more than 52,000 people in city shelters, including more than 22,000 children, an all-time high. Since Mr. Bloomberg took office in 2002, the number of people in shelters has increased 71% and the number of families in shelter increased 83%.